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Chapter 150 Part 2

The moment Amir ran up the stairs and entered the room through the open door, perhaps because he was in a hurry, he almost bumped into a girl in a uniform he didn’t know.

「I, I’m sorry. For being late… Ah!」

「Kyaa!」

Amir barely managed to avoid her, but lost his balance and ended up stumbling.

「Whoa!」

「Oops.」

For some reason, at that moment, he felt as if time was moving slowly.

He watched in dismay as the paper bag, which left his hands as he stumbled, flew into the air, but a boy who had turned around caught it with his chest and grabbed it firmly with his left hand at the same time.

He then immediately reached out his right hand, took Amir’s arm as he was about to fall forward, and pulled him towards him.

「Hu… h…?」

「Are you okay?」

Who on earth is this person?

He looks really cool and kind.

It was only for a brief moment that Amir entertained such a thought, as soon after, Rinne’s reprimand shot toward him.

The student council officers, including Rinne, were merciless towards Amir, who was still an elementary school student.

Sometimes they would even lash out at him unreasonably, but Amir was not allowed to go against them.

After all, he wanted to avoid offending young lady Rinne and getting fired.

Even so, not only was he not subjected to violence, he was not locked up like the men in his hometown, as he had heard from his mother, either, so he thought it was still on the better side.

So as to not sour her mood even more in the presence of people from outside, Amir humbled himself and was about to go to the kitchen, his workplace.

However, to his surprise, the older boy from earlier protected him.

Not only the boy, the girls in uniforms from other schools who had come with him also stepped forward to protect Amir and the boy.

Amir was taken aback, but he had never been protected like this in the student council before, so he couldn’t help but get stunned.

However, at the same time, it was also a fact that he found the warmth of the hand placed on his shoulder comforting.

Amir looked up at the boy called Yuu as if he was seeing something dazzling.

He recalled that among the folk tales his mother used to read to him as he went to sleep when he was little, there was a story about siblings.

In today’s world, even if they gave birth to a boy, he was the only one in the family. The other family members were all women.

However, unlike today, it seemed that in the past there were siblings consisting of elder and younger brothers.

If I had an older brother, would he have been like this big bother?

For a short while, he harbored such a fantasy, and then, to his surprise, young lady Rinne seemed to have given in to Yuu and the others’ words.

「Phew. I understand. I believed that to discipline a child of this age it was essential to treat them in a strict manner, but as opposed to just scolding them, I guess it’d be a good idea to watch over them gently from time to time. Now, Amir, prepare the tea for our guests.」

「Y, yes! Um… thank you very much!」

「You’re welcome.」

When Amir bowed deeply and expressed his thanks to him, Yuu smiled gently at him.

Seeing Yuu like that, Amir felt warmth spreading in his heart.

◇ ◇ ◇

Rushing into the kitchen, Amir hurriedly began preparing tea.

Usually, he prepared tea just for the student council officers, and depending on the day, there were also times when the number of people increased, but he had been in charge of waiting for about four months. He had gotten quite used to it.

However, today was special.

While the water was boiling, Amir opened the brown paper bag that Yuu had picked up for him.

Inside were four whitish paper packets.

At a glance, they looked like granule-type cold medicine.

The memo inside had instructions, which was to put one packet into each cup for the guests, printed on it with a word processor.

It said it was tasteless, odorless, and dissolved easily in hot water.

Amir lined up the cups for the guests, cut open the paper packets, and poured out the contents smoothly.

After pouring them into three cups without giving it much thought, he suddenly came to his senses.

Why did they go out their way to put something like this in?

The instructions didn’t mention anything about its effects.

However, he couldn’t help but feel that it would definitely not do any good for the person who drank it.

Did he have to let the big brother who had stood up for him earlier drink it too?

That would be returning evil for good, Amir’s intuition told him that.

However, what if they found out that he hadn’t put it in…?

「Ugh… what should I do…」

Amir, still holding the unopened paper package, was at a loss what to do.

However, it was also a fact that he didn’t have time to hesitate.

If he dallied around, someone might come there.

With the air conditioner on, it shouldn’t have been hot, but an unpleasant sweat ran down his back.

At his wit’s end, Amir’s eyes darted through the air and landed on one of the cupboards above the sink.

It was a place that wasn’t usually used, and Amir himself had never opened it.

As if to escape reality, he opened one of them, got on the stepladder, and tried to peer inside.

There were suspicious-looking small bottles and cylinders stored inside.

When he picked up a few and looked at them, all of them were packages with words written in foreign characters that he couldn’t read.

His eyes were drawn toward one of them, a dark bottle.

That was because the words on it were written in kanji, so he thought he would be able to read it.

Although he had grown up in Japan and could read and write as well as a Japanese person, there were many kanji that Amir, who was still only 12 years old, had never learned.

However, the illustration of the fire-breathing reptile and the images of kanji characters for 「power」, 「strength」, 「vigor」, and 「spirit」 gave him a sense of strength.

Perhaps it would give him strength to go against those scary Sairei Student Council officers.

Amir, who had completely forgotten about his instructions, held the black bottle tightly and nodded his head.

◇ ◇ ◇

When they opened the door at the back of the office and showed Yuu and the others into the next room, they were stunned as they looked at the glittering interior and furniture all over the room.

From the extravagant chandelier to the tables and chairs, chests and sideboards, everything was in the Rococo style, with white as the base color and lavish use of gold, and graceful, elegant curves.

One might mistake it for the mansion of a European aristocrat that they had seen on TV.

The round table that the three usually used had been pushed aside to the corner, and instead a long table covered with a white tablecloth had been placed in the center.

However, the chairs were not just pipe chairs, but stylish rounded wooden chairs decorated with goldwork. It was easy to tell that they had spent a lot of money even on things like these, too.

「The ostentation of the nouveau riche, I see.」

Yuu nodded slightly to Riko’s softly muttered words.

「Now, Yuu-san, come over here?」

Rinne, with a radiant smile on her face, pulled out a chair on the other side of the table.

It seemed that the party wouldn’t start until Yuu and the others, the invited guests, took a seat.

Having no other choice, Yuu took a seat at the far end of the table, followed by Sayaka, Riko, and Eimi.

Rinne was in the so-called birthday seat. Facing Yuu and the others were Norika, Weifei, the secretary, and the treasurer.

They waited for about 15 minutes, chatting mainly about the morning recital.

Just as Rinne and Norika were starting to get concerned about the kitchen, Amir finally came in pushing a cart with tea utensils on it.

From Yuu’s point of view, Amir was clearly nervous, and he could see his hands were shaking.

As Amir was preparing tea with his slender back turned toward Yuu and the others so that they couldn’t see it, the words 「Shall I give you a hand?」 went up all the way to his throat, but thinking that it would be a breach of etiquette, he decided to wait obediently.

「Ah… it smells nice.」

「Yes, it sure does.」

As everyone in the family was on the coffee camp, the current Yuu drank drip coffee with a certain degree of particularity, but he rarely drank black tea.

Even before his rebirth, all he ever had were cheap tea packets.

However, black tea properly made by brewing tea leaves in a pot was on a completely different level, and he felt it had a somewhat elegant aroma.

「This is the highest-grade Assam tea that we specially ordered from its place of origin through the connections of the Nikko Group (my house). I think adding milk to it, as they prefer to do in England, its place of origin, is nice and all, but drinking it directly as is and savoring its profound richness is also enjoyable in its own way. To begin with, even among the many tea leaves, Assam tea is-」

「Let’s give it a try first.」

「Yeah.」

The two vice-presidents interrupted Rinne’s boastful chatter, which looked like it would last for a long time, and picked up their respective cups.

Rinne’s expression froze at the betrayal of her own people, but she quickly schooled her expression, as one would expect from her.

「Hou… it’s delicious.」

「It sure is.」

「This is my first time having such delicious tea!」

Sayaka and the others had a lot to say about the Sairei student council, but even so, they could honestly say that something delicious was delicious, which was probably a strong point.

On the other hand, Yuu thought it was too bitter for tea, but he didn’t show it on his face, and glossed it over by saying, 「Thank you for such delicious tea」, and smiled at Amir.

Perhaps he didn’t expect to be spoken to out of blue.

After mumbling and hesitating with a flustered look on his face, Amir said, 「Y, you’re welcome. Excuse me」, and then withdrew.

After each of them had enjoyed their tea, suddenly opening her mouth was Rinne.

As if aiming at him, Rinne and Norika were looking straight at Yuu.

Weifei alone was playing with the cup with her fingertips.

「Now then, it’s about the right time, so I wonder if we could have Yuu-san as part of our student council?」